tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6636115422175094502024-03-08T12:35:21.264-08:00baking for engineersLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-78959881043694897742015-05-11T15:04:00.000-07:002015-05-11T15:04:23.905-07:00Pastry FlowchartAt SCA, the third quarter of the Pastry program has one practical test that accounts for around 50% of one's Practicum (the hands-on portion of our classes) grade. Before the test, we're given a list of 9-10 products (for example, brioche or lemon curd). We have to memorize the ingredients (not the exact amounts, but the general proportions and of course the actual ingredients) and also the method of making the product. <br />
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For the test, we all go into the kitchen early in the morning. There are tables set up with a group of ingredients (not labelled - you have to recognize the item) on each table, and a number. We each draw a number out of a hat, go the the table with that number, and have an hour to recognize the product and make it (using the correct method). Sanitation counts, as does accuracy in following the method, and of course, the end result must also be acceptable.<br />
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No pressure, right...?<br />
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For my test last quarter, there were nine of us students, and we had nine possible products:<br />
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Brioche<br />
Lemon Curd<br />
Bavarian Mousse<br />
Hot Method sponge cake<br />
Two Stage Method sponge cake<br />
Creme Anglaise<br />
Merinque Buttercream<br />
Biscuit Joconde<br />
Dacquoise<br />
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I used two methods to study for this test: flash cards, and a flowchart. On my flashcards, I drew the ingredients on one side (as they might appear when seen on the table) and on the other side I put the name of the product and its method.<br />
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I was worried about being able to identify some of the products, because many of them had ingredients in common (different kinds of flour, for example). So, engineer that I am, I did some analysis of the ingredients, and realized it was really not that complicated to figure out what the product was. Below you can see my flowchart (and also sample flash cards). Click to enlarge.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/17531565721" title="Practicum Test Worksheets by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7717/17531565721_b58ff4cf33.jpg" width="500" height="341" alt="Practicum Test Worksheets"></a><br />
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I'm not going to bore you with the whole flowchart explanation, but it involved breaking down the decision-making to simple questions based on observation: only one product has lemon; only one has yeast; and so on. My fellow students (and the chef instructor) thought this was fairly nutty, but when I explained the logic behind it, they still thought it was nuts, but in a clever way.<br />
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So, how did the test go? We all got ourselves way too worked up and nervous over it, and none of us got 100%. One person did not pass. I had no trouble with product recognition (I got Brioche) but I had not made brioche for three months and was thrown off by the quantity (one fourth of the amount we usually mix) and though it turned out ok, I was obviously nervous (for which I lost points) and added the butter too soon (for which ditto). OH WELL, lesson learned (studying's good but staying calm is better).Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-77100758508739732922015-05-09T11:29:00.001-07:002015-05-09T11:29:29.750-07:00Catching upWell! Time to catch up on third quarter, especially since I'm now 4 weeks into my last quarter. I showed you some cakes and plated desserts in my last post; they were followed by doughs:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/16834552111" title="Pear Brioche After by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7584/16834552111_81b0f97417.jpg" width="441" height="400" alt="Pear Brioche After"></a><br />
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(That is fresh pear brioche), by breads:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/16628316937" title="Tartine Oat Levain by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8682/16628316937_9cb8286f8a.jpg" width="480" height="471" alt="Tartine Oat Levain"></a><br />
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(Sourdough, with oat porridge and almonds folded in), and tarts:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/16628316787" title="Tarte Normande by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8666/16628316787_1d60a05e15.jpg" width="380" height="302" alt="Tarte Normande"></a><br />
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(Tarte Normande, big chunks of apple, and topped with sliced almond).<br />
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I made quite a few variations on what we call "three day breads." The technique for these is tuned to the rather unusual (for a bakery) hours we have to work on them. We're in the bakeshop from 9:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. each day, so we have to adjust rising and proofing times to suit, while still letting these breads develop the best flavors. The typical schedule is like this:<br />
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Day one: <br />
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Mix the preferment (sourdough-based starter) around noon, cover and leave out at room temperature overnight.<br />
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Day two: <br />
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Mix the preferment with the rest of the final dough ingredients except the salt (I do this by hand if I'm making the more-or-less standard 8 to 9 two-pound loaves). Cover the bowl and let it sit 30 minutes. This step is called "autolyse" and it lets the flour start to hydrate itself, and the enzymes in the flour a chance to start breaking down starches and proteins. <br />
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Then mix in the salt and put the dough in an oiled bin. <br />
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For the next 3 hours, fold the dough every 30 minutes. "Folding" means lifting the dough on one side and folding it over the main dough, then lifting the opposite side and folding over, then ditto for the two other sides. The folding serves the purpose of kneading and punching that you probably have seen in ordinary household bread recipes. It's wonderful to see how the dough develops between each fold, getting more lively, smoother, and developing that lovely sourdough smell. <br />
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After completing the folds, scale (cut the dough and weigh it in equal amounts - for us it's usually two pounds) and preshape the loaves. Often the preshape is a "loose boule" (soft round ball) but not always - the preshape depends on what you want your final shape to be. Let the preshaped loaves rest on a floured surface (bread board) for 15 minutes.<br />
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Do the final shaping of choice for the loaves, and put them in floured banettons (plastic bowls) or cloth-lined baskets. Retard (chill) overnight. We have a proof box that can have its temperature adjusted for either a warm or cool rise. A home baker equivalent would be to put the loaf in the fridge overnight. It will continue to develop but at a very slow pace.<br />
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Day three:<br />
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Take loaves out of the retarder and let them warm to room temperature - about an hour and a half. The loaves will revive and start to raise. When they are ready, turn the out of the baskets or banettons, slash them (this lets the crust open nicely when baking), and bake.<br />
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For you home-bakers,<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcvY-z90Rk"> here is an excellent video</a> showing how to use this same method for home bakers. It's from an <a href="http://www.riotrye.ie/">Irish bakeshop and bread school called Riot Rye</a>, whose mission is to empower people to make home-baked bread. <br />
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OK, that's the end of today's lesson! Next post I will explain the relevance of flowcharts to Pastry. Really!<br />
Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-19917372515002387272015-02-07T16:16:00.000-08:002015-02-07T16:16:34.521-08:00Let's All Eat CakeI've been having a lovely two weeks working in the Chocolate Room (a relative oasis of quiet in the chaos of the bake shop) making European-style cakes for my cake rotation. I am under the guidance of the French Chef and have learned a lot, including The Right Way (i.e. the French Chef's way) to make chocolate mousse, lemon cream, and Bavarian cream, and how to caramelize the top of a mille-feuilles. I made two kinds of cake each week. <br />
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This one was perhaps my favorite, mostly because I made it up based on other recipes in our packet. Its flavors are citrus (lemon mousse, chocolate-lemon flourless cake, candied orange slice decor) and berry (a layer of raspberry & strawberry coulis). The wafers on the sides are some white chocolate decor we made earlier in the week in chocolate class. It was supposed to have lemon slices as decor but I forgot to candy them the day before assembling the cake. <br />
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This cake was also interesting because to put those orange slices on the top of the cake, I built it upside down: I wrapped the cake ring in plastic, and the slices went in first, followed by mousse, a cake layer, mousse, the berry coulis, more mousse, then the last cake layer. After freezing, it is turned right side up before removing the ring.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/15845584064" title="Cake-Citrus-Berry by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7405/15845584064_2715722a41_o.jpg" width="423" height="337" alt="Cake-Citrus-Berry"></a><br />
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This cake is called "Riviera." It has dark chocolate cake, lemon cream, and dark chocolate mousse, and is finished with a shiny chocolate glaze.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/16280399528" title="Cake-Riviera by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8600/16280399528_a33bd1440c_o.jpg" width="312" height="357" alt="Cake-Riviera"></a><br />
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Next is "Le Brazil" with orange cake, an orange creamy layer, filled with coffee bavarian cream. Very delicious flavor combination.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/16468093335" title="Cake-Le-Brazil by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8611/16468093335_64132c86ed_o.jpg" width="356" height="335" alt="Cake-Le-Brazil"></a><br />
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And finally, raspberry mille-feuilles. Mille-feuilles means "thousand layers." You may be familiar with this cake as a Napoleon pastry. The "cake" part is puff pastry that is rolled very very thin on the sheeter, then twice-baked to make it very crispy and light. Three layers of puff alternate with layers of fresh raspberries nested in buttery vanilla mouselline. The top is dusted with powdered sugar, and the caramel marks are made by heating a thin metal rod over the gas flame and then scorching the sugar to caramelize it.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/16442094086" title="Cake-Mille-Feuilles-Framboi by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7294/16442094086_177f53486b_o.jpg" width="440" height="280" alt="Cake-Mille-Feuilles-Framboi"></a><br />
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My next two weeks are Tarts: one week of sweet (two kinds) and one of savory.Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-16748893147762923252015-02-02T15:37:00.000-08:002015-02-02T15:37:35.356-08:00New Year, New QuarterFresh new year, and a fresh new quarter. I am optimistic about this quarter for two reasons: first, we no longer work in teams on our bake shop rotations, so we each are responsible for planning and completing our own baking; and second, the French chef is back (he was out on the injured list last quarter). He is very strict, very knowledgeable, and enormously patient in teaching and demonstrating (as long as he knows you are paying attention and trying to get it right... otherwise, look out!). I can already tell that the bake shop is less chaotic and also is cleaner than last quarter, even though we have more students that ever (16 in second quarter and 17 in first quarter). No fires yet! There were two last quarter, so you can perhaps see why it's an improvement having him back.<br />
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Eight of my original nine fellow third quarter students have returned, and we are joined by two other women who were once a quarter ahead of us, but who decided to take a quarter off. So there are ten of us, still all women. The Gang of Ten! I have some good academic classes this quarter: sustainability, nutrition "for culinary professionals" and a baking theory class that's all about chocolate. We again have five, two-week long rotations. My schedule (order of rotation) is:<br />
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Plated desserts<br />
Cakes<br />
Tarts<br />
Bread<br />
Doughs<br />
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I've completed the plated dessert rotation and am happy to say it went well. For third quarter, we make two desserts each week, and if they are good enough ("good" means both tasty and beautiful) then they are served in the One World restaurant (the higher-end restaurant of the two the school runs). Here are two of the desserts I made, so you can get an idea of their nature. This is a mini version of a classic French cake called Le Fraisier (The Strawberry). The little cake includes pistachio sponge cake, fresh strawberries and vanilla mousse. I finished it with fresh strawberries and a strawberry-balsamic semi-pris (a lightly jelled sauce).<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/15811130303" title="Le Fraisier by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7384/15811130303_680521e2cd_o.jpg" width="429" height="398" alt="Le Fraisier"></a><br />
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This next one isn't as pretty but was very tasty. It's mocha panna cotta, with whipped cream made a bit tart with creme fraiche, and a caramel rum sauce. Dark chocolate curls for decor, plus a little cocoa powder to make it fancy-schmancy.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/16245269237" title="Mocha Panna Cotta by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8636/16245269237_0af7aaed95_o.jpg" width="373" height="309" alt="Mocha Panna Cotta"></a><br />
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My other two desserts were a sort of deconstructed Black Forest cake, and a cassis cake with frozen vanilla cream, coated in thin caramel. Neither of those photographed well (I blame the photographer) so you'll have to use your imagination.<br />
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Last week and this week I'm making European-style cakes (lots of thin layers of cake, mousse, cream and/or jam or jelly). Also we made four kinds of chocolate ganache in theory class, and will be making chocolates this week. Fun!Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-25231492264656874912015-02-02T15:11:00.001-08:002015-02-02T15:11:43.108-08:00Stick a fork in itSecond quarter has been over for months. I'm a few weeks into third quarter, but even with a month off in December, I haven't been able to write about the last weeks of second quarter. I've intended to keep this blog both truthful and positive, but the truth is second quarter's practicum was at times tedious and stressful and plain unpleasant. So let me just stick a fork in it, and call it done. To end on a brighter note, I'll show you one of the beautiful and pleasing things I learned to make: classic puff pastry. Look! Chaussons!<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/15813239301" title="Chausson by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5610/15813239301_8d75d43def_o.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Chausson"></a>Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-90622112000790902862014-11-17T15:30:00.000-08:002014-12-30T10:26:49.004-08:00Falling inIt's definitely fall here in Seattle, and I've fallen through seven weeks of the quarter without a single blog entry. I blame this beast:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14956956004" title="The Boss by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3942/14956956004_b41d6d5fd7_o.jpg" width="500" height="667" alt="The Boss"></a><br />
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In a fit of wild optimism, I decided it would be fun to take a work-study job, doing the mixing of muffins and scones for the early shift at the Pastry Case. I did NO due diligence about hours and responsibilities, and oh have I paid for my ignorance. The job included more hours than I'd expected - 6 or 7 hours on Mondays mixing a week's worth of muffins and scones, plus an hour and a half Tuesday through Friday, baking from 6:30 am to 8. <br />
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But besides the hours, the work had more heavy lifting than it turns out this old baker can handle. The mixer above has a 60 quart stainless steel bowl that weighs about 30 pounds. Add 35 pounds of muffin batter to that and it's not an easy lift. 70 scones packed onto a full-size sheet tray is not light either. I was exhausted by the end of the day and started getting repetitive motion aches and pains and finally decided I had to quit. It took a week or two to find and train a replacement, but I am now happily free again. My replacement is a cheerful first-quarter student who loves the job (she is also about 1/3 my age and a head taller...).<br />
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So, enough about work! Second quarter is challenging in other ways. We have classes from Tuesday to Friday, with five rotations of two weeks duration. We also have a Baking 102 (baking theory) class from 8-9 each morning, and a Food Costing and Purchasing class twice a week from 2-3. From 9 to 1:30 each day we are working & learning in the Pastry kitchens.<br />
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There are nine of us in my quarter, still all women. So with five rotations, there is always someone who is alone (i.e. no partner). These are my rotations:<br />
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1. Culinary<br />
2. Cakes<br />
3. Viennoiserie (also known as Doughs)<br />
4. Individual Desserts<br />
5. Bread<br />
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For the Culinary rotation, we work in the culinary kitchens (they have four kitchens, to Pastry's two), and have different stations each day. Their kitchens are madhouses of activity, and I did not take any photos. The stations that I can remember were Fish (how to filet a trout), Sauces (making a basic red and a white sauce), Butchery (pork tenderloin), Starch (we got to choose a starch, and I chose potato gnocchi, which turned out beautifully), Breakfast (poached egg, hollandaise, pancakes, omelet), and Salad Dressing. I enjoyed the stations, and two of the chefs were very patient and attentive so I felt I learned quite a bit; also it was educational to see how the Culinary kitchens are run, but I felt it was a very brief overview... and it's our last time of working in Culinary. I did get a lot more practice on my knife skills, in any case.<br />
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So, Cakes! In first quarter, the cake rotation makes 'American style' cakes, like carrot cake and basic sponge cakes. In second quarter, we make European style cakes, with thin layers of rather dry sponge (that gets soaked in flavored simple syrup) sandwiched between layers of mousse and/or buttercream and/or jam/jelly. We also do more decor work with chocolate, caramel and marzipan. Here are some of the cakes we made:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/15391068149" title="Eggnog Gateaux by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3948/15391068149_f52d8e7db2_o.jpg" width="500" height="364" alt="Eggnog Gateaux"></a><br />
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Eggnog Gateaux: pumpkin cake with rum simple syrup and eggnog bavarian mousse. Caramel decor - those black sticklike things are whole vanilla beans.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/15629949067" title="Pumpkin Mousse Cake by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7569/15629949067_954182afa7_o.jpg" width="416" height="500" alt="Pumpkin Mousse Cake"></a><br />
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Curcurbita: pecan sponge cake, pumpkin cheese cake mousse, and swiss roll sponge with cranberry jam. Chocolate trees and marzipan pumpkins for decor. You can tell we made this one during Halloween week.<br />
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We also made opera cake (coffee buttercream and chocolate glacage), a caramel apple cake, and a spiced chocolate cake with passion fruit / apricot glaze and vanilla buttercream. All very rich, sweet cakes, that were fun to make but that I don't much care for to eat, or at least not more than a bite or two. Rich! Sweeeet!<br />
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I'll write about Viennoiserie in my next post.Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-26069213980661041892014-09-22T15:10:00.001-07:002014-09-22T15:10:21.934-07:00Stocking up for Fall<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/15137403430" title="Prep for Shakshuka by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3867/15137403430_c83c338cdd_o.jpg" width="500" height="315" alt="Prep for Shakshuka"></a><br />
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Classes start tomorrow, and today I'm trying to get my house in order, preparing to be submerged in the school kitchens for another eleven weeks. One of the resolutions I made, coming out of my week at the farm, is to waste less food at home. I've slumped into some bad habits; buying groceries with good intentions and then finding sad bags of moldy veg lurking in the crisper weeks later; being lazy about separating food parings for composting; going out to eat when I'm "too tired to cook." I won't promise to be perfect, just to be more mindful, and today I made a good small start.<br />
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I sifted through everything in my fridge, and did some cooking for meals later this week. Lucky for my pride, this time the dive into the fridge turned up only one item that had to be composted (a half jar of very expensive fermented carrots, that had molded) and everything else got either cooked or otherwise prepped for use. Here's my list of accomplishments for the day:<br />
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Cooked up a big pan of shakshuka sauce<br />
Refreshed my sourdough starter<br />
Cut up a bunch of fresh veg for snacking <br />
Stewed all the veg trimmings to make a quart of vegetable stock<br />
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I will freeze some of the pepper sauce and the stock. There are dozens of recipes for shakshuka, but they all result in a strongly seasoned tomato-based sauce, in which you poach eggs before serving it topped with a bit of yogurt and accompanied by good bread. Mine is based on Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe in the cookbook "Jerusalem," though you can see <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/apr/07/foodanddrink.shopping5">another version of his recipe here</a>. It's a very flexible thing to make.<br />
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Shakshuka sauce<br />
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Dice 4 or 5 good-sized sweet or bell peppers<br />
Chop 4 cloves of garlic<br />
Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil in a heavy, deep pan<br />
Add the peppers and garlic along with:<br />
a teaspoon of cumin and of salt<br />
2 teaspoons of tomato paste<br />
a teaspoon of Sriracha or hot sauce of choice<br />
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cook this all for about 10 minutes to soften the peppers<br />
add about 5 cups of chopped tomatoes (fresh or tinned, or a mix)<br />
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cook until the sauce becomes fairly thick (about 20 minutes)<br />
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Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-19646988757703475952014-09-20T13:57:00.003-07:002014-09-20T13:57:59.988-07:00Farming 101<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/15114203597" title="Quillisascut Farmhouse by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3903/15114203597_78700e1445_o.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Quillisascut Farmhouse"></a><br />
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Last week I spent five days in the far northeast of Washington State, with Rick and Lora Lea (farmers) at Quillisascut ("<a href="http://quillisascut.com/">Farmstead Cheese and School of the Domestic Arts</a>") in Rice (near Colville). It's a six hour drive from Seattle, which gives you plenty of time to contemplate your fate and gaze at the beautiful and varied terrain of eastern Washington. I went to the farm to attend a workshop: Farm Culinary 101. The goal of the program is to give culinary students and professionals a chance to experience life on a farm, and to make "farm to table connection" a personal experience (rather than the textbook concept it might be to a new student - and certainly was to me).<br />
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The photo above is of the kitchen and dining area of the building that houses the school. The house also has a big living room, a baking room, a walk-in cooler, and upstairs there are four rooms, each with three single beds, and two bathrooms (the upstairs is the student living area). There were 10 students, mostly women, so it was like living in a lively dorm. We were split into three teams, with every day filled with farm activities, demos, and tours of neighbor farms; also we cooked lunch and dinner every day (under the very patient and expert direction of Chef Karen, who teaches at Seattle Culinary). Practically every ingredient was sourced from the farm itself or from neighboring farms. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/15300761555" title="Cliffside Orchard Peaches by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5582/15300761555_cbce9066f1_o.jpg" width="500" height="311" alt="Cliffside Orchard Peaches"></a><br />
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Above, Suncrest peaches from <a href="http://www.cliffsideorchard.com/">Cliffside Orchards</a>, a neighboring farm that we visited.<br />
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The whole week was an intense immersion into farm life. My first day included starting the morning at 6, out in the yard, where Rick demonstrated how to skin and clean a (freshly killed that morning) goat. After breakfast I dug potatoes and weeded for a couple hours in the huge farm garden; after lunch we all met with a beekeeper for a lecture and then a walk to some beehives to look at the critters close-up. I was on dinner prep that day and the menu was pizza in the farm's wood-fired outdoor oven. <br />
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Other days I learned hands-on how to butcher and clean a chicken; made some goat cheese; did a couple rounds of morning chores (feeding the chickens and goats); observed milking of goats; baked bread in the wood-fired oven; did lots and lots and lots of dishes... and many more things. You can see a <a href="http://quillisascut.com/chalkboard/culinary101/">sample schedule here</a>, but it's hard to convey how busy and involved we all were. One day I don't think I sat down all day except to eat.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/15114204017" title="Quillisascut Goats by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5551/15114204017_d76717487d_o.jpg" width="500" height="398" alt="Quillisascut Goats"></a><br />
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Above, the "girls" (the milk goats).<br />
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Speaking of eating, the food was wonderful and much more abundant and varied than my usual diet (dessert for dinner EVERY DAY). The farm-to-table connection becomes very apparent when you realize that 10 of us (plus farmers and chef) are working all day mainly to feed ourselves or to stockpile food for less abundant times... such as this goat cheese we helped make, which has to age for two months before it is eaten:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/15300761725" title="Quillisascut Chevre by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3837/15300761725_6a85ac4922_o.jpg" width="500" height="211" alt="Quillisascut Chevre"></a><br />
<br />
I came home with a head full of images and ideas, a half flat of peaches, a quart of Snowberry honey, a loaf of wood-fired bread and a round of chevre, feeling both mazed and amazed. I'll be processing the whole experience for a long time... but I need to turn my attention in another direction now: Fall Quarter starts next Tuesday!Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-85829034372802768912014-09-06T13:32:00.001-07:002014-09-06T13:32:13.982-07:00End of SummerSummer quarter ended two weeks ago, and today I packed my bags and will head to <a href="http://quillisascut.com/">the farm</a> early tomorrow morning. Before I leave, I'll catch you up on the last few days at school. After we had finished our rotations, we were allowed to work independently the last few days. We were to choose two items to make for the Pastry Case, and one item for the Grand Buffet. I wrote about the apple cake that I made for the Grand Buffet <a href="http://bakingforengineers.blogspot.com/2014/08/gateau-breton-aux-pommes-sur-le-grand.html">a few posts ago</a>. <br />
<br />
I finished my celebration cake a day ahead of schedule, so I ended up making three items for the pastry case: hand pies, cream puffs, and my first attempt at baking a large batch of multi-day bread: twelve loaves of Pain Rustique. Here is the bread:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14949802662" title="Pain Rustique by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5577/14949802662_261222f4b3_o.jpg" width="400" height="421" alt="Pain Rustique"></a><br />
<br />
Can you believe we sell these one pound loaves for $1.50? I made the poolish (sourdough starter) one day, and finished the bread the next day.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14763601547" title="Blueberry Lemon Cream Puff by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3883/14763601547_cd9f088659_o.jpg" width="400" height="456" alt="Blueberry Lemon Cream Puff"></a><br />
<br />
I chose to make cream puffs because I wanted to practice making Pâte à Choux and also wanted to practice piping. As a bonus, I made some small-batch blueberry jam for the filling (end of the quarter, blueberries needed to be used up) and topped it with lemon whipped cream (cream with sugar, lemon zest and juice whipped in). We sampled a few of these and they were very tasty. Can't miss with blueberries and lemon. And cream.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14972867259" title="Hand Pies by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3861/14972867259_fdcab5872f_o.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="Hand Pies"></a><br />
<br />
For these hand pies, I made a batch of pie dough, then cut 3.5 inch circles, and filled them with two kinds of jam that were leftover in the fridge: peach, and tart cherry. I used a small star-shaped cookie cutter to make the vent on the top crust. These also were very good and sold quickly out of the case. A good item to file away for using up leftover jam or whenever you want an easy-to-make treat that looks fancy.Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-8582904378382513272014-08-24T15:32:00.002-07:002014-08-24T15:32:19.700-07:00Baker's Percentage... with BiscuitsProfessional baking has a language all its own. For example, a "formula" is a list of ingredients and quantities, which may or may not include instructions for how to make the bakery product. A formula that does include instructions can be called a recipe, but only if you want to sound like an amateur; in fact even <i>needing</i> instructions for common products (like creme anglaise or pate sucree) marks you as an amateur or, at best, a beginner. I'm only slightly exaggerating; by the time I finish third quarter at Seattle Culinary, I will be expected to have many common baking formulas memorized, and be able to produce them without referring to books or notes.<br />
<br />
One aspect of professional baking formulas that has appealed to my engineer's mind is "baker's percentage" (sometimes called baker's math). The idea behind baker's percentage is that since most baked goods contain flour, you can express the quantity of other ingredients in a formula as a ratio (percentage) of the amount of flour. For example, if a recipe calls for a pound (16 ounces) of flour and 8 ounces of water, the percent of water is 8 divided by 16, which is 0.5 or 50%. Flour will always show as 100% in formulas using baker's percentage.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/15004401325" title="Cheese Biscuits by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5557/15004401325_43d0ced51f_o.jpg" width="400" height="304" alt="Cheese Biscuits"></a><br />
<br />
Photo of lovely cheese biscuits to take your mind off my possibly confusing explanation.<br />
<br />
I can see some big advantages in using baker's percentage in a formula. The main advantage is that it allows easy and flexible scaling of the outcome of a formula. For example, a bread formula can be easily sized up or down to create the desired weight of dough for however many loaves the baker needs to make. Another advantage is that it encourages bakers to measure ingredients by weight, which will produce much more accurate and reproducible results (since for most ingredients like, say, flour, one person's cup measurement can contain a different amount of flour than another person's, due to handling of the flour, dry ingredients being packed down, and so on). A third advantage is that it provides a common language for writing formulas, independent of any particular weighing scheme (metric, imperial, whatever). <br />
<br />
I'll use the cheese biscuits as an example. The original recipe (<a href="http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/savory-cheddar-cheese-biscuits-recipe">click here to view</a>) called for:<br />
<br />
8 ounces all-purpose flour<br />
0.4 ounce baking powder<br />
0.2 ounce salt<br />
4 ounces cheese <br />
8 ounces cream <br />
total weight: 20.575<br />
makes about 10 two-ounce biscuits<br />
<br />
To convert to baker's percentage:<br />
<br />
flour (8 ounces gives us a divisor of 8 for this formula) 100%<br />
baking powder (.4 / 8) = 0.05 = 5%<br />
salt (.2 / 8) = 0.025 = 2.5%<br />
cheese (4 / 8) = 0.5 = 50%<br />
cream (8 / 8) = 1.00 = 100%<br />
<br />
Let's say you want to make 40 biscuits. You see it requires 8 ounces flour in the original recipe to make 10 biscuits, so you would need 32 ounces (4 times 8) to make 40. Then you can use the baker's percentages to calculate the other ingredients:<br />
<br />
flour 32 ounces<br />
baking powder (32 * 5%) = 1.6 ounces<br />
salt (32 * 2.5%) = 0.8 ounce<br />
cheese (32 * 50%) = 16 ounces<br />
cream (32 * 100%) = 32 ounces<br />
<br />
Easy as pie... or biscuits.<br />
Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-23853311580058704492014-08-20T13:26:00.001-07:002014-08-20T13:26:24.210-07:00Gâteau Breton aux Pommes sur le Grand BuffetOn the last cooking day of summer quarter, the school hosts a Grand Buffet in the Atrium at Seattle Central. It's the same format as the daily small-plate service we've been running all summer, where plates are set out on long white-cloth'd tables, and patrons buy tickets (50 cents each) which they trade for whatever catches their fancy. The Grand Buffet is on a larger scale, however, and for this one day, each student is allowed to make one item of her choice (within reason, and using stock on hand). I chose to make <a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/gateau-breton-aux-pommes">Gâteau Breton aux Pommes using a Bon Appétit recipe</a>. I baked this according to the recipe, except I also made the crème fraîche from scratch (much easier than it might sound: it's just whipping cream spiked with a little buttermilk and left out overnight to get slightly sour).<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14796386320" title="Gateau Breton aux Pommes by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5555/14796386320_7663d6eec6_o.jpg" width="400" height="369" alt="Gateau Breton aux Pommes"></a><br />
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Here is the cake, just cooled, on a cake stand waiting to be sliced. By the way, these cake stands are wonderfully useful especially when slicing or decorating tarts and cakes. The base is very heavy cast iron, and the top rotates. I plated the slices of cake on a small pool of salted caramel sauce, with a spoonful of whipped crème fraîche on the side. Here are the slices on the buffet table:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14960063976" title="Cake on the Grand Buffet by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3921/14960063976_7e250c80f2_o.jpg" width="400" height="430" alt="Cake on the Grand Buffet"></a><br />
<br />
Does a cake with a French name really taste better? I can't answer that for certain with this cake, as I did not get to taste it. It certainly smelled wonderful! Everything went out to the buffet and this cake disappeared quickly. I did get to taste a bit of leftover caramel sauce (deliciously brown-buttery stuff) and the crème fraîche (very rich and slightly tart, a good balance for the sweet cake and sauce). <br />
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Here's a view of the pastry tables at the buffet. This was just before the buffet started. The tables were refilled at least twice as items sold and new treats were plated. These plates were all sold for two tickets, i.e. for one dollar. No wonder the buffet is popular.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14983057005" title="Grand Buffet Tables by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3881/14983057005_fb01b8e6a6_o.jpg" width="400" height="533" alt="Grand Buffet Tables"></a><br />
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The day after the Grand Buffet was the last day of school for summer, and we spent it, as usual, deep-cleaning the kitchens. Now I have a month off until Fall Quarter. I'm going to spend a week of my summer break at <a href="http://quillisascut.com/">Qullisascut Farm</a> in Rice, WA, at farm school. Goats! Chickens! Cheese-making! Baking in a wood-fired oven!Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-48456612261661097992014-08-17T12:04:00.003-07:002014-08-17T12:04:22.187-07:00Celebration CakesOne of the summer rotations is "Wedding and Celebration Cakes." It was my least favorite rotation, partly because I'm not very interested in fancy cake decorating, but especially since the French chef who usually teaches cake decor (and who is an expert; he's even made a six foot tall replica of the Eiffel Tower... in chocolate) was injured and had to take the last two weeks of the summer quarter off. We pretty much winged it on our own, with a little guidance from the replacement chef. My team (four of us) spent 3 days making a huge wedding cake, only to find that all the marzipan was used up, and our chosen decoration (marzipan ribbons and bows) could not be done in fondant. The cake did turn out to be tasty (almond cake with tart cherry jam and vanilla buttercream filling), but we resorted to decorating it with fresh flowers. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14762320130" title="Almond Cherry Wedding Cake by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5582/14762320130_c0616a6877_o.png" width="400" height="564" alt="Almond Cherry Wedding Cake"></a><br />
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Not bad looking if you don't examine it too closely, and it did sell very well by the slice so at least it wasn't a waste of time and ingredients. The part I enjoyed most on this project was that I got to make the tart cherry jam for the filling.<br />
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During the last 3 days of the rotation, we were allowed to build any "celebration cake" we wanted to make. Some people made fancy cakes from the same batter as the wedding cake, generally covered and decorated with fondant (one of my partners made a Despicable Me cake) but I decided to make something I thought would be good to eat (I think fondant is tasteless and sticky). I chose to make Carrot sponge cake, cut into four layers, with mascarpone-cream cheese filling spiked with orange zest and plain cream cheese buttercream frosting on the outside. To decorate it, I made a constellation of fondant stars...<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14762345117" title="Celebration Cake Stars by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3904/14762345117_d2275709fe_o.jpg" width="400" height="458" alt="Celebration Cake Stars"></a><br />
<br />
... though I ended up using only a few of them, as I decided to place the stars so they'd look good when the cake was cut. Here's the finished cake:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14762277638" title="Celebration Cake by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5551/14762277638_2c5538ac65_o.jpg" width="400" height="434" alt="Celebration Cake"></a><br />
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And here it is cut into slices:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14762206879" title="Celebration Cake Slices by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5581/14762206879_3231919a99_o.jpg" width="400" height="463" alt="Celebration Cake Slices"></a><br />
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The slices sold for $2, except for two that I took home for myself and a friend to sample. The cake really was delicious, though if I made it for home, I'd leave it as two layers, and use the orange-mascarpone as both filling and frosting. The cake is very moist and doesn't need a huge amount of frosting. The orange zest and mascarpone were very good variations to the usual cream cheese frosting you find for this cake; they made the filling both lighter and tastier. Here is the cake recipe (based on one from my first quarter recipe packet).<br />
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<b>Carrot sponge</b><br />
<br />
Butter and lightly flour two 8 inch cake pans; line the bottom with parchment.<br />
Preheat oven to 350F.<br />
<br />
4 eggs<br />
3/4 cup mild-tasting vegetable oil<br />
14 ounces sugar<br />
1/2 tsp salt<br />
9 ounces bread flour<br />
1 Tbsp cinnamon<br />
3/4 tsp baking soda<br />
1/4 tsp baking powder<br />
1 lb peeled carrots, grated finely<br />
4 ounces chopped walnuts<br />
<br />
Whip eggs until frothy, then gradually whip in the oil.<br />
Mix in the sugar and salt (on low speed if using a mixer).<br />
Sift the dry ingredients and add to the egg mixture.<br />
Fold in the carrot and walnuts until evenly distributed.<br />
Divide batter evenly between the cake pans and bake until done, about 40 minutes. Test doneness with a wooden toothpick or skewer; it should come out moist but not sticky. Let cool 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out on a rack to cool completely before frosting.<br />
<br />
Mascarpone Orange Frosting (<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2005/apr/17/foodanddrink.recipes">recipe via Nigel Slater</a>)<br />
<br />
250 g (8.8 ounces) mascarpone<br />
200 g (7 ounces) cream cheese<br />
150 g (5.3 ounces) powdered sugar<br />
zest of one orange, finely grated<br />
<br />
Beat the cheeses and sugar in a mixer until smooth and creamy, then beat in the orange zest. This will make enough to fill two layers and cover the cake.<br />
<br />
<br />
Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-73297383508309722712014-08-09T10:23:00.000-07:002014-08-09T10:23:17.745-07:00Well PreservedMy favorite rotation this summer was the Sandwiches one. The focus of the rotation is both to make sandwiches (some for student lunch, and some to sell in the Pastry Case) and to learn preserving techniques by canning jams and pickles and making fermented foods. As has been the norm for this quarter, most of our work was self-directed, though it was often driven by whatever fruits and vegetables had come to us from the farms after the Monday farm visits. I made some bread during the rotation (pain ordinaire, our standard white yeast bread, and Portugese sweet bread) but most of the time I made jams and pickles. I've done a lot of canning in my home kitchen, but it was fun learning to use the wonderful steam kettles at school, and to make some unusual preserves.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14831246013" title="Steam Kettles by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2896/14831246013_da0b877165_o.jpg" width="400" height="613" alt="Steam Kettles"></a><br />
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These are the steam kettles. The two kettles are attached to a base heating unit, with a dedicated water faucet for filling them. On preserving days, we fill the kettles with hot water in the morning, bring it to a boil, then turn down to simmer. At the end of the day, the water gets tipped into the drawers and the kettles are washed out and wiped down. The photo shows one of the kettles tipped over; the drawer below leads to a drain. The photo below shows the basket that's inside each kettle. It has handles to lift it out, but it's heavy (especially when loaded with quart jars) so most of the time we transfer jars to and from the kettle using a jar lifter.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14682208257" title="Steam Kettle Basket by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3863/14682208257_711fe9b491_o.jpg" width="400" height="400" alt="Steam Kettle Basket"></a><br />
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My partner had not canned before and was very enthusiastic about it, so we made a lot of small (5-6 pint) batches of jam, including peach jam (in which we infused crushed peach kernels to add a mild bitter almond flavor), plum/apricot with rose water, and raspberry chocolate.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14811068542" title="Peach Jam by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2920/14811068542_d717f2fc20_o.jpg" width="400" height="413" alt="Peach Jam"></a><br />
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We also pickled four quarts of okra:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14624792228" title="Pickled Okra by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3923/14624792228_4139c813e8_o.jpg" width="400" height="346" alt="Pickled Okra"></a><br />
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And made a big batch of peppery, savory pizza sauce, which will be used next quarter to sauce foccacia for sale in the Pastry Case:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14624767239" title="Pizza Sauce by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2898/14624767239_b6ac3e7ff8_o.jpg" width="400" height="462" alt="Pizza Sauce"></a><br />
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The jam making even continued over to my next rotation (Celebration Cakes). We decided to make an almond/cherry cake and then discovered there was no cherry jam, so chef handed me a 5 lb bag of frozen pitted tart cherries, and I made jam on the fly for the cake (5 lb cherries, chopped in the food processor, 5 cups sugar, boiled down to jam consistency, then 2 tsp of almond extract stirred in). Delicious.Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-68035460315511528232014-08-02T10:31:00.000-07:002014-08-02T10:57:14.025-07:00Out Standing in a FieldIn Summer quarter, Pasty students at Seattle Culinary have a one-day field trip to farms in the Skagit Valley (the area around the Skagit River, near Mt. Vernon, WA). Culinary students go every other Monday (half the class goes on alternating Mondays). There were about 35 of us yesterday; eight Pasty and the rest Culinary, shepherded by Chef Greg. We all rode in a chartered bus and it felt a lot like field trips I remember from grade school, but with less noise and more smoking.<br />
<br />
We went to two farms. The first was <a href="http://www.hedlinfarms.com/">Hedlin's Family Farm</a>, near La Conner. The farm has been owned by the Hedlin family for more than a hundred years. Dave Hedlin, a third generation farmer, told us that his grandfather immigrated from Denmark, and started the farm in 1906. The grandfather was originally a shoemaker. He started the farm by growing oats, which Dave said were very lucrative at that time, because they were that era's diesel fuel: oats powered the horses and horses powered the machines back then. After the First World War, the farmers expanded their crops to include fruits and vegetables, and eventually to seed production. The farm grew from the original 60 acres to more than 500 today.<br />
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Fourth-generation farmer Ky took us on a walking tour of the original farm. Their farm supplies more than 80 CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture farm basket shares - <a href="http://www.localharvest.org/csa/">click here to read more about those</a>), six farmers markets, and several restaurants and co-ops, in addition to having their own roadside farm stand and selling to wholesalers. Their practices are primarily organic. For example, they practice crop rotation (three years of grass alternating with three years of vegetables) and in the grass years, they trade the grass with a local cattle farmer who supplies them with manure to further enrich the soil. They are working on GAP certification (Good Agricultural Practices, a <a href="http://agr.wa.gov/inspection/fvinspection/gapghp.aspx">USDA certification and inspection program</a>) but have not yet completed the paperwork (there's a lot of paper required, according to Ky).<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14779779352" title="Hedlin Farm Cabbage Seeds by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2919/14779779352_a2e2c2b793_o.jpg" width="450" height="519" alt="Hedlin Farm Cabbage Seeds"></a><br />
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Seed production is now a big part of their business model. Ky said that the Skagit Valley is renowned for seed production, and that they and other farmers have contracts with some of the big-name seed production companies like Syngenta. The photo above shows some flats of cabbage starts that they are growing for the seed company. The company gives them seeds; they don't grow their own. Ky explained that this lets the seed companies have full control of their seed production. The seed company even enforces which farms grow which seeds, and how close different varieties can be grown to each other (so that they can avoid cross-pollination).<br />
<br />
The Hedlins grow a lot of wheat (Norwest 553 hard red) and barley. They also collaborate with Washington State University in growing small batches of different varieties of grain, in a project to breed varieties that will grow well in the Skagit climate. This cooperative work benefits both the farm and the school both short term (trade of soil and labor for grain income) and long term (emergence of hardier, more valuable grains).<br />
<br />
Hedlin Farm has several huge greenhouses, where they grow "spray free" tomatoes and peppers. Pests are controlled mainly by using insects, though I also saw pheromone traps. The tomato greenhouse below had some small wasps for aphid control, and bumblebees to pollinate.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14593460089" title="Hedlin Farm Greenhouse by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3881/14593460089_acef1a6c8a_o.jpg" width="450" height="478" alt="Hedlin Farm Greenhouse"></a><br />
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You can see some other sustainable practices at work in the greenhouse photo: deep layers of cedar chips to retain water, and black plastic-wrapped containers to keep the soil warm. Ky said the tomatoes and peppers are not certified organic, because they use some soil fertilizers, but with that exception they are organic. <br />
<br />
The farm had two of the biggest compost piles I've ever seen - easily 50 feet long by six feet square. The original farmhouse is still on the property and still in wonderful condition. It survived a flood in 1918 (most of the La Conner area is six feet below sea level). They are about a mile from the Skagit River, and the area is crosshatched with systems of dikes and sloughs. The soil is naturally high in clay and acidic - they have to put a lot of work, manure and compost in it to get the PH up.<br />
<br />
The second farm we visited was La Conner Flats, another fourth generation family farm in the Skagit Valley. They run a program called <a href="http://www.laconnerflats.com/VEGTRIALS.html">The Veg Trials</a>, which is both a test garden for developing new and better plant varieties, and an outreach "farm to table" program. Seattle Culinary has a one-acre plot at this farm, where students go each week in the summer to work on the plot and learn first-hand about farming. It was near noon by the time we got to this farm and was very hot. I dug weeds and also transplanted some brussels sprouts seedlings. We had lunch and then headed back to Seattle. It was pleasant to be back on the air-conditioned bus - I'm not used to working outside in that much sun! I did not waste my time on the bus, though. I knit half of a dishrag:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14624158880" title="Skagit Dishrag by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3911/14624158880_bdd606c25e_o.jpg" width="400" height="400" alt="Skagit Dishrag"></a><br />
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Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-74317475402509081162014-07-27T12:19:00.000-07:002014-07-27T12:19:21.162-07:00Rustic DessertsLots of photos for you today. My "Rustic Desserts and Ice Cream" rotation was a busy one. There were eight people in my group for this rotation, and we all had to share one table for most of the time, so there was a lot of negotiating on use of table space, and some creative redeployment to any other space that might happen to be open (like the cheese room). We made lots of product; I'll show you my favorites here.<br />
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I started by making two pies, a Macadamia Nut Cream Pie, and Lemon Raspberry Meringue pie. The meringue pie was based on <a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/lime-blackberry-italian-meringue-pie">this recipe from Bon Appetit</a>, except lemon instead of lime, and raspberries instead of blackberries. The Italian meringue on top toasted up beautifully using a kitchen torch, and had a great roasted marshmallow flavor. I used tayberries for the decor since we were out of raspberries that day. This pie sold very well and was delicious, and not hard to bake. The macadamia nut pie was good, too, though it does not look nearly as glamorous.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14573001128" title="RusticPies by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3869/14573001128_5f1bba99eb_o.jpg" width="400" height="433" alt="RusticPies"></a><br />
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This is olive oil / orange cake, served on a base of sliced apricots that were poached in syrup infused with basil. I think if I made this again, I'd strain out the basil after poaching and put in some fresh basil, so it would look prettier on the plate. But in any case, it tasted good, and the cake was very tender and moist.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14572978569" title="RusticOrangeCake by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2939/14572978569_32523d8462_o.jpg" width="400" height="353" alt="RusticOrangeCake"></a><br />
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We had a ton o' peaches that were all ripe at once, so I made a lot of peachy stuff, including this shortcake (which, by the way, was priced at $1.50)...<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14759306162" title="RusticPeachShortcake by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2924/14759306162_e67b9de730_o.jpg" width="400" height="578" alt="RusticPeachShortcake"></a><br />
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... and a bunch (three 9 inch and a baker's dozen 5 inch) of peach pies:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14573182967" title="RusticLotsOfPeachPies by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3908/14573182967_2f378d69b7_o.jpg" width="400" height="702" alt="RusticLotsOfPeachPies"></a><br />
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I also made some ice cream. First a Bombe (this one is basically whipped cream combined with Italian meringue and frozen), with the cream infused with fresh lemon verbena leaves. It was decadently rich on its own, so I plated it simply with fresh tayberries.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14736629566" title="RusticLemonVerbenaBombe by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2899/14736629566_9177780a16_o.jpg" width="400" height="400" alt="RusticLemonVerbenaBombe"></a><br />
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Then I made some buttermilk ice cream, using raw sugar, which turned it a delicate pale brown. One of my rotation buddies made Anzac biscuits (coconut/oatmeal cookies) and assembled those into ice cream sandwiches. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14572978769" title="RusticButtermilkIceCreamSan by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2916/14572978769_b230e4438c_o.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="RusticButtermilkIceCreamSan"></a><br />
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I also made a terrific "slab pie" with a base of pâte sablée (very rich, short pie crust), then a layer of almond cream, topped with quartered fresh apricots and a little raw sugar, and baked in a hot oven until the apricots were roasted. I cut it into bars 2" x 3" and it was hugely popular. It is a recipe Chef Don used to make a lot at one of his bakery gigs, and I can see why it's a best-seller. I forgot to take a photo, though! Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-25017626539516937682014-07-11T08:48:00.001-07:002014-07-11T10:53:28.279-07:00Plain, Delicious<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14628283685" title="Savory Petits Fours by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5506/14628283685_e6397ffd74_o.jpg" width="400" height="397" alt="Savory Petits Fours"></a><br />
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For the last three days of my Petits Fours rotation we were dedicated to savory bites. Plain looking, compared to the sweet ones, but very tasty. We made a big batch of gougères (Pâte à Choux dough with cheese, minced red pepper, and a pinch of cayenne - basically fancy cheese puffs). I think these are a great snack just eaten plain, but Chef wanted us to fatten them up, so we filled half of them with whipped cream cheese, sour cream, smoked salmon and dill, and the other half with cream cheese whipped with minced jalapeno, New Mexican chili powder and cilantro. The squares are mini-tarts on a base of Pâte Brisée with the same filling I made last quarter in my Tart rotation: red onion, mushroom, thyme, with balsamic vinegar reduction. <br />
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Next week I'm on to a new rotation: Rustic Desserts, which also includes making ice cream and sorbet. Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-19330244036295505322014-07-09T18:54:00.001-07:002014-07-09T18:59:53.945-07:00Petits Fours<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14614542434" title="Sweet Petits Fours by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2926/14614542434_772e6f6c6d.jpg" width="400" height="406" alt="Sweet Petits Fours"></a><br />
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So, last week Wednesday and Thursday, and Monday this week, I'm making sweet petits fours. "Petit Four" in French means "small oven" - in early kitchens, there was sometimes a smaller oven used to bake these small confections, while the main oven was used for breads and other large baked goods. In my former un-kitchen-schooled life, I'd always thought petits fours were just those tiny frosted somewhat stale cakes, but in fact, any tiny bite, sweet or savoury, can be a petit four. <br />
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The tray above holds the efforts of four students. I made the green triangle cakes in the center and the round ones with the red decor. The green cakes are pistachio swiss roll, layered twice with pistachio German butter cream (for that you make pistachio pastry cream,and plain butter cream, and beat them together) with ground pistachios sprinkled on top and a garnish of a couple of pistachios (in case you missed the whole pistachio theme). The round ones are black tea-infused sponge soaked in blood orange syrup and nested in black tea mousse, sitting atop a pâte sucree wafer. The garnish is orange peel, candied with blood orange syrup and dried out in the oven overnight. Very tasty, both of them. <br />
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My partner and I also attempted macarons, the batter of which was approved by Chef, but which failed mysteriously during baking. You can see some well-baked macarons in the photo, but they were another student's effort.<br />
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Now that we're making enough product, we are back to selling. In summer the Pastry Case is open, but I haven't worked there yet. We in the Petits Fours rotations are responsible for manning a table in the Atrium (an area in the building that's between the two restaurants. The restaurants are not open in summer, but Culinary and Pastry all have tables set up Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and people can buy tickets and then graze the tables and get small plates of whatever's on offer for the day.<br />
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On our table below, there are some savory petits fours, some rustic desserts, and in the distance, some plates of our sweet petits fours. Also in the near foreground you can see a silver-colored thing, which is a portable freezer holding ice cream and sorbet, that the people on the rustic dessert rotation made. Today's flavours were "drunken apricot" (apricot with rum), apple chardonnay, pineapple passionfruit, and raspberry. The buffet is popular but not frantically busy, I am happy to say. The prices are very low - tickets are 50 cents, and for example, a (large) scoop of ice cream is two tickets, and a plate of 3 petits fours is 3 tickets. <br />
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We're on to savory petits fours as of yesterday. I've made mushroom-onion tartlets based on one of the tart preparations I made last quarter, and my partner is making puff pastry pizza rolls. We also made gougeres (pâte a choux puffs with cheese) that we filled with smoked salmon cream cheese, but I didn't get a photo of those yet. Maybe tomorrow.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14636573933" title="Pastry Table by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3923/14636573933_5f1ce2284f_o.jpg" width="400" height="365" alt="Pastry Table"></a>Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-36139062961969384452014-07-06T10:58:00.001-07:002014-07-09T18:37:47.861-07:00Summer QuarterIt's summer! The pastry program runs for five quarters. You can start the program in any quarter... except summer. That's because summer quarter has the same class schedule and program for all students, no matter which quarter they just finished. This year we have nine first quarters (my fellow students), nine second quarters, and 12 third quarters. It's a pretty easy (and easy-going) schedule for summer: there is a theory class Monday through Wednesday from 7:30 to 8:20, and bake shop rotations Monday through Thursday from 7:30 until 1:50. Classes run for 8 weeks.<br />
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Once again, the bake shop work is done in rotations. They are: Wedding and Celebration cakes; Sandwich bread, sandwich making, and preserving; Rustic desserts (like pies and cobblers) and ice cream; and Petits Fours (both sweet and savory). We also have one field trip to the Skagit farm, which happens on the Monday of one's Sandwich rotation. Each rotation is six days, and we always work with at least one (and up to three) partners.<br />
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Unlike the Culinary students, who spent the whole first week in the classroom, we started working in the bake shop right away, though our formal rotations didn't start until Wednesday. On Tuesday, we made a huge batch of Royal Icing (egg whites, powdered sugar, and an acid (we use lemon juice) to make the icing whiter) and practiced various kinds of decoration by piping onto cake pans:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14401182758" title="Royal Icing by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3888/14401182758_2221f5402d.jpg" width="360" height="475" alt="Royal Icing"></a><br />
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My first rotation is Petits Fours. I have one partner, a second quarter student. We're both pretty quiet and serious so are getting along very well. On Wednesday and Thursday we did prep work for two kinds of sweet petits fours: Pistachio petits fours for which we made pistachio sponge cake, pistachio pasty cream, and butter cream (into which the pastry cream is incorporated); and a fancy little cake called "Rising Sun" that involves black tea and blood orange infused sponge cake, black tea mousse, and a fancy candied orange lace decor. We'll put the cakes together on Monday, then I hope we will have time to make some macarons. For this rotation we spend three days on sweet PF, and three days on savory ones.<br />
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I have no finished cakes to show yet, so in the meantime, here is a view of the Chocolate Room in the bakeshop (yes! a whole ROOM for chocolate work):<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14588281262" title="Chocolate Room by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3862/14588281262_cd1031245c.jpg" width="400" height="291" alt="Chocolate Room"></a><br />
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This photo is looking into the chocolate room from the main baking kitchen. There are stainless steel counters and to the right, out of view, another long steel counter, the cool/dry storage for chocolate, and a blast freezer, among other specialized bits of equipment.Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-9646489928756947302014-06-27T10:09:00.003-07:002014-06-27T10:09:51.391-07:00We're Jammin'What I did on my summer vacation: made Rhubarb and Whole Strawberry Jam from Christine Ferber's <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/665652.Mes_Confitures">"Mes Confitures"</a>. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14520599965" title="RhubarbStrawberryJam by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3872/14520599965_f50e9d1fdb.jpg" width="400" height="313" alt="RhubarbStrawberryJam"></a><br />
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The farmer's market still had some young rhubarb, and strawberries are peak season in Washington now, so I decided to make some more jam. This is the second recipe I've made from Ferber's book; the first was plain rhubarb jam (<a href="http://bakingforengineers.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-lonely-pint.html">blogged here</a>). Ferber's jams are very sweet (to my taste). She prescribes a ratio of 80% sugar (to fruit, by weight). I decided to modify this batch of jam to 60% sugar. I also cut the recipe approximately in half, which resulted in four half pints, plus about 2/3 cup extra. <br />
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600 gm prepared rhubarb (trimmed, stalks cut lengthwise, diced)<br />
360 gm sugar<br />
600 gm strawberries (washed and hulled, left whole)<br />
360 gm sugar<br />
juice of one lemon<br />
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The directions for cooking the jam are a bit complicated at first reading. Basically you are making each fruit into jam separately, and combining them at the end just before canning. The whole process takes three days. I had to write out a schedule to keep track of all the steps. I found several internet sources discussing the recipe and telling about modifications, which was a big help, and based on their suggestions, I cut back on the most complicated step, which calls for bring the strawberry mixture to a boil 5 times, repeating the sequence four times at 8-hour intervals. EH? The idea is to concentrate the syrup and infuse the whole berries with syrup without mashing them. I cut the interval time down so that I could get this done in one day. I also changed the final boiling step so that I cooked the two fruits together, rather than cooking separately, combining, and cooking again. My process was:<br />
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Day 1: <br />
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Mix strawberries, sugar, and half the lemon juice in a non-reactive bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.<br />
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Day 2: <br />
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Strain the berry syrup, bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes, pour the syrup over the berries, skim, cover, refrigerate. <br />
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Mix the rhubarb, sugar and the rest of the lemon juice in a non-reactive bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.<br />
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Day 3: <br />
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In the morning, put the strawberry mixture into a pan and bring it to a boil 5 times (bring to boil, take off heat until boiling stops, return to heat and bring to boil, and so on). Wait 2 hours and repeat. Do the 5 times boiling four times in total. <br />
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Get your canning jars and lids sterilized: lids in a pan of simmering water, clean jars in the oven at 225F.<br />
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Then take the rhubarb mixture out of the fridge. Strain the juice of both mixtures into a pan. Bring to a boil, skim and continue to cook at a boil until the syrup reaches 221F (105C). Add the fruit; continue to boil, skimming any foam, for 5 minutes.<br />
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Fill the jars to the top, wipe the rims if needed. Put on lids and screw down the caps, then turn the jars over to cool. Alternatively, you can water-bath process them (<a href="http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/using_bw_canners.html">see here for instructions</a>). The "turn jars over" method is the traditional French method.<br />
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A note on sugar: in the rhubarb jam I made earlier, I used unbleached sugar, and the resulting jam turned out a bit on the brownish side of red. For this jam I used white sugar, and the color is much better. The jam is very tasty, tart and sweet. I think if I make this again, I'll use a higher proportion of strawberries to rhubarb, perhaps 60/40.Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-84597089606876787912014-06-24T14:42:00.001-07:002014-06-24T14:42:52.910-07:00First Quarter Bottom LineSo, how much does it cost to go to baking school at Seattle Culinary Academy? Their website has a <a href="http://www.seattlecentral.edu/wp/seattle-culinary-academy/program-parent-desserts-breads/desserts-cos/">page showing estimated costs</a>, but it appears to me that the list is most likely for Culinary students rather than pastry; for example, the tool kit costs are about double what I actually spent. Following is what I paid for first quarter:<br />
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<table border="1" cellpadding="10"><tr><th>Item</th><th>Amount</th></tr>
<tr><td>Tuition (17.5 credits)</td><td>1,465</td></tr>
<tr><td>Fees</td><td>290</td></tr>
<tr><td>Photocopied packets</td><td>18</td></tr>
<tr><td>ServSafe book and test fee</td><td>120</td></tr>
<tr><td>Prof Baking textbook</td><td>101</td></tr>
<tr><td>Chef's Kit</td><td>309</td></tr>
<tr><td>Uniforms (2)</td><td>217</td></tr>
<tr><th>GRAND TOTAL</th><th>$2,520</th></tr>
</table><br />
The chef's kit and uniforms should be one-time expenses, but based on this list I expect that the next four quarters will cost about $2,000 each. My guesstimate for total program cost (not including things like accident insurance, transportation and so on) is about $10,500. Far, far cheaper than the big-name culinary schools, which can cost more than $50,000, especially when you consider it's 15 months of education and results in a degree. See an enlightening comparison of culinary <a href="http://eater.com/archives/2013/04/25/culinary-schools-price-tags.php">school costs here</a>.<br />
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Since we're talking about the stuff I bought, here is a look at my school locker:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14313476429" title="SchoolLocker by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2913/14313476429_e86104c1f6.jpg" width="215" height="500" alt="SchoolLocker"></a><br />
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The top shelf holds aprons, caps, socks and extra dishwashing gloves. I have two sets of jacket & checkered trousers hanging up ready for next quarter. If you squint, you can see my name embroidered on the jacket. Below the uniforms you can see my fancy chef's kit. I tried a couple of carriers for my tools and didn't like any of them - mostly because they don't fit in this locker, which is exactly eleven inches wide. Right now I'm using a sturdy plastic restaurant food pan (a Cambro) which at least keeps things clean and fits in the locker. The bottom shelf holds my kitchen shoes (<a href="http://www.klogs.com/SelectedItem.aspx?id=60">Klogs brand</a>).Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-12256929974807129932014-06-22T12:55:00.000-07:002014-06-22T12:55:40.126-07:00This Post Lacks Pastry<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14295891790" title="PassWithFlyingColors by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5559/14295891790_7fca671460.jpg" width="400" height="292" alt="PassWithFlyingColors"></a><br />
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Now that I'm finished with first quarter, here is a retrospective on the classes that I hope might be useful to any future student (or anyone considering pastry school at Seattle Culinary). So if you're here for the pastry photos, you might want to skip this post! My original list of classes was:<br />
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BAK 101 Introduction to desserts & breads<br />
BAK 111 Desserts/breads practicum<br />
CUL 106 Culinary arts theory<br />
CUL 151 Sustainable food practices<br />
HOS 101 Customer service practicum<br />
HOS 110 Principles of sanitation<br />
MIC 102e Excel for culinary students <br />
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<b>BAK 101</b> was three days a week from 7:30-8:50 on Tuesday and Thursday, and 7:30-8:20 on Wednesday. The text for this course is <a href="http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-EHEP002239.html">Gisslen's "Professional Baking"</a>. The class covered most of the text book. There is a lot of memorization of things like weights and measurements (how many grams in an ounce?), converting quantities (how many tablespoons in an ounce?), properties of ingredients and their composition (how is invert sugar made, and why use it?), and even recipes (what is the procedure for making creme anglaise?). There were three tests (quiz, midterm and final) that are both multiple choice and fill-in-the-blanks. There is also a report on an ingredient (mine was on rambutan fruit) for which you must develop a power point document and present it to the class. <br />
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I liked the class but it crammed a lot of information into us very rapidly; I felt like I was sometimes just memorizing rather than understanding or seeing interconnections. On the other hand, much of the reading made more sense once I was applying the knowledge during a bakery rotation. I wish I'd had the text ahead of school to preview - I thought there was no text for the class because the book wasn't listed in the school's bookstore for the class, but apparently they often don't order these fat and expensive textbooks because students try to get used copies.<br />
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<b>BAK 111</b> was the bake shop practicum, which I wrote about <a href="http://bakingforengineers.blogspot.com/2014/04/bak-111-pastry-practicum.html">in a previous post</a>. The rotations are four days a week, 9-1:30 on Wednesday and Friday, and 10-1:30 on Tuesday and Thursday. The last half hour every day is spent cleaning up the kitchens so they are spotless for the next day. Bake shop rotations overlap with <b>HOS 101</b>, which is the work we do in the Pastry Case, selling our products. The advantage of having a small class size for these rotations is that there were at most two of us on a rotation at one time, so we had more opportunity for hands-on baking and more individual attention. The downside is that we spent more time in the Pastry Case and the on-duty time there means missing bake shop work. My class had nine students, and I worked four days on rotation in the Case during the quarter. <br />
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I received very little feedback on my bake shop work (I haven't seen my final grade yet); I talked about this with Chef James (our "shepherd" chef) and he said there was not much expected of first quarter students in terms of quality of product. If a student is making the same mistakes repeatedly, or there is a problem with work ethic (like absenteeism) they are given a talking-to, but otherwise, no news is good news. My best advice to a new student would be: show up, pay attention, don't worry about being perfect, and never, ever stand around when there are dishes to be done.<br />
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<b>CUL 106</b> meets twice a week for an hour, and provides a brief overview of the non-pastry side of cooking. This class is where I learned some beginning knife skills, how to hone a knife, and a couple of ways to cut up a chicken. There is again a lot of memorization (what is the difference between conduction and convection? At what temperature does protein coagulate?) and there were five quizzes. The quizzes were not very difficult - they covered only material from about 2 weeks, so were easy to study for.<br />
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<b>CUL 151</b> (Sustainable food practices) met only once a week, from 7:30-8:20 on Fridays. I already had an interest in food politics and policy before starting school, so I found this class both interesting and a lot of fun. The instructor encouraged discussion in class; in two classes we watched the movie "Food, Inc." There was one midterm report, which was to pick a product and research its ingredients, labeling, company ownership, and sustainability (I wrote mine on Organic Valley's Grassmilk), and the final was take-home (half essay and half multiple choice). <br />
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<b>HOS 110</b> was the course to prepare us to take the <a href="http://www.servsafe.com/manager/food-safety-training-and-certification">ServSafe Food Safety Test for Managers</a>. This was definitely the hardest class and the one that required the most study and homework. We met in the classroom only once a week, with the rest of the class and most of the homework done online. This is the first quarter they've done online training, so there was somewhat of a guinea pig experience just getting the online system to work properly. There were a couple of chapters of reading every week, plus weekly quizzes, online discussion boards and extra readings and videos to watch. <br />
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The instructor was very strict and particular - we even had one section of our grade based on "professionalism" which included attendance, class participation, and remembering to bring your text to class each week. All my classroom courses required memorization but this class was by far the most intensive. I found an app called <a href="http://quizlet.com/latest">Quizlet</a> very useful with all the memorization, by making flash cards, which I could even review on my phone whenever I had a free moment. To give you an idea of the scale of the memorization, my "summary" flash cards for the ServSafe test had almost 150 cards. This is definitely a course where you must not fall behind on the work. There was one fun project: to make a "Fact Sheet" intended for a "general public" audience, on a food safety topic of your choice. I wrote mine on home canning safety - I titled it "Delicious... Or Deadly?" <br />
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I had hoped that <b>MIC 102e</b>, Excel for Culinary, would teach us how to do neat things with Excel related to baking (like figuring baker's percentage, or quantity cooking) but it turned out to be just "Excel 101" and very boring. On the other hand, it's only one hour a week, and it was an easy A since as long as you show up and do the (very easy, brief) weekly assignment, you get 100%. <br />
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So that's it for first quarter. Much more homework and memorization than I expected, and most of the hands-on learning happens while producing goods for sale. I very much like that the work is practical and food isn't wasted, and that we get real-life professional kitchen experience. Without a doubt it is hard work and it's work under pressure to produce edible, beautiful baked goods. But then, that's what I'm going to baking school to learn.Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-26448486702870108402014-06-21T13:50:00.002-07:002014-06-21T13:50:37.226-07:00Sweet & Savory TartsMy last two-week rotation for first quarter was in Tarts. It was my only rotation with the French chef, and my only solo rotation (no partners). It was also my most relaxed, educational and fun rotation. I loved working by myself; even though I had to work hard to produce all the tarts on time, I liked being the only one responsible for the work and being in control of the schedule. My classmates had reported various levels of fear & trembling in working with the French chef (he is very particular about things being done The Correct Way and is not tolerant of errors that cause waste), but I got along very well with him and learned a lot. It might help that everything I made was edible, and I didn't spill, burn, drop or otherwise waste anything. <br />
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The first week of the rotation is sweet tarts, using a tart dough called Pâte Sucrée. This dough is made from pastry flour, granulated sugar, butter, egg yolks and cream, and it's about 25% sugar and 67% butter (in ratio to the total amount of flour). It's a very soft, sweet dough, almost like a cooky. It's mixed in a stand mixer with a paddle. The first day, I mixed the dough and put it in the fridge to chill, then made a batch of lemon curd. On the second day, I rolled out four 9 inch tarts (we don't use pie pans, but instead use tart rings on parchment-covered baking pans) and learned how to form the tarts - it's harder than you'd think with this dough because it is so rich and soft, and has to be handled gently. I filled these tarts with the lemon curd and put them in the fridge to chill.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14482701003" title="ChocolateTart by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2913/14482701003_dda2a54a9e_n.jpg" width="320" height="263" alt="ChocolateTart"></a><br />
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The third day, I baked the lemon tarts and garnished them with thinly-sliced lemons that had been soaked 48 hours in a syrup made of 2:1 sugar:water. The lemons were left over from another student's cake project. Nothing is wasted in this bake shop! The fourth day, I rolled two tarts worth of dough using the sheeter, and mixed up a rich chocolate-orange filling. These got baked and cooled that day. The last day, I decorated the chocolate tarts by making chocolate ganache, and whipping half of it. I piped shell shapes around the edge of each tart, then poured the unwhipped ganache inside the ring of piped shells. Pretty! and very rich. I didn't make the white/dark chocolate decor - again it was some other student's chocolate practice work.<br />
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To finish up the week, I rolled the rest of the dough using the sheeter, and made a bunch (more than a dozen) of small 4 inch tarts, which I filled with the rest of the lemon curd, and decorated with orange slices and shards of white chocolate. The photo shows how the tarts are presented for sale in the pastry case.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14461418934" title="LemonTarts by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5589/14461418934_4ed322c386_n.jpg" width="276" height="320" alt="LemonTarts"></a><br />
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The last week, I made a double batch of Pâte Brisée, which is more like classic American pie dough. Our recipe calls for pastry flour, butter, sugar, salt, whole eggs, and milk, and it is mixed completely by hand. The ratio of butter to flour is about 44% and sugar only 6%. It's also always rolled by hand - no sheeter. This double recipe ended up making enough dough for about 18 nine-inch tarts, though I ended up making only a dozen. I spent the second day doing a lot of prep work on vegetables for the various tarts, and ended making up three varieties: classic onion/ham, tomato/basil/roasted garlic (topped with roasted red bell pepper), and onion/mushroom cooked in a balsamic vinegar reduction. It was fun to get to do so much culinary prep work.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14439437526" title="RollingTarts by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3919/14439437526_38551aa10b_n.jpg" width="246" height="320" alt="RollingTarts"></a><br />
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I learned how to roll and form the savory tarts. The dough is firmer than the sweet pastry and is a bit easier to work with. I also learned how to blind bake (pre-bake unfilled tarts) using pie beans (pinto beans, which we reuse multiple times). To blind bake, I cut parchment circles an inch or so larger than the tart ring, then put the paper in first, followed by beans. The parchment makes it easier to get the beans out after baking, and keeps the beans from making dents in the shell. This photo shows the tarts after baking:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14275905519" title="BlindBaking by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5571/14275905519_31fffd741b_n.jpg" width="320" height="249" alt="BlindBaking"></a><br />
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Here is the onion/ham tart:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14473960132" title="HamAndOnionTart by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3837/14473960132_9525440daa.jpg" width="300" height="307" alt="HamAndOnionTart"></a><br />
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... and the tomato/basil tart:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14459183731" title="TomatoBasilTart by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5534/14459183731_6036def305.jpg" width="288" height="276" alt="TomatoBasilTart"></a><br />
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... and the onion/mushroom one:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14276091887" title="MushroomTart by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2897/14276091887_e89f239c7d.jpg" width="288" height="296" alt="MushroomTart"></a><br />
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A fifth quarter student bought four of these, and I bought the other two. I was very pleased to hear from the 5th quarter student the next week that her guests loved the tarts. I loved them too, but OH they are rich - they are filled with a custard that is just heavy cream and eggs. Yummy, but a little piece goes a long way.Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-51499976037553402342014-06-19T18:29:00.001-07:002014-06-19T18:29:41.830-07:00Playing catch-up, with Cakes and ChocolateSo, it's been a long time since my last post. Tuesday was my last day of classes, which I spent doing a thorough cleaning of the bakeshop kitchens, along with all my fellow pastry students. The cleaning was well-organized, but still took all of us (about 80 people) nearly three hours. Later Tuesday afternoon I took the ServSafe restaurant manager sanitation test, which I'll write more about in a future post. I have 10 days off until starting summer quarter on June 30th, and I'm going to spend part of my summer break trying to catch up on this blog. Starting with CAKE!<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14461419014" title="germanChocolateCake by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5498/14461419014_92e02d45a2_n.jpg" width="320" height="310" alt="germanChocolateCake"></a><br />
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My fourth rotation was cakes, with Chef James, who is cheerful and relaxed, so it was a nice change from doughs. My notes tell me that we made five cakes, though I only managed to remember to take a photo of the one above. All the cakes that we made are American style cakes. The recipes are all from the photocopied packet of school recipes that I got at the beginning of the quarter. We made:<br />
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Ladyfinger batter, piped into ten inch rounds and baked, which we used as a layer in tiramisu cheesecake<br />
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Chocolate sponge cake and german chocolate cake filling, for the cake above (it's topped with shaved chocolate)<br />
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Chocolate Basque cake, which is cake batter layered with pastry cream before baking (very rich and dense)<br />
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Coffee cake<br />
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Espresso pound cake<br />
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I liked the espresso pound cake. The others were tasty but very rich, especially the tiramisu cheesecake.<br />
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On one of our Baking 101 class mornings, we went to the bake shop instead of the classroom, and practiced writing and making decorations with piped tempered chocolate. We learned to make piping bags out of parchment paper cones. It was very messy and fun.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14276091927" title="ChocolateWriting by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2936/14276091927_6494ef2524.jpg" width="300" height="251" alt="ChocolateWriting"></a>Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-85351792172316344642014-05-10T10:28:00.002-07:002014-05-10T10:28:27.597-07:00A Week of Sheeting<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14149696371" title="dough sheeter by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2919/14149696371_1a4ce5749b_o.jpg" width="588" height="441" alt="dough sheeter"></a><br />
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This beast is a dough sheeter. It is basically a giant mechanical rolling pin. The white flat area works like a treadmill, and the straight silver handles at the front control the direction the treadmill runs. In the center of the machine is a roller that can be raised or lowered via the rounded silver handles. You put a block of dough on one side, and run it back and forth under the roller/presser, and it creates a beautifully even, flat sheet. I took this photo early in the morning, before the kitchen filled with busy bakers.<br />
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This week (and next week) my rotation is Doughs. I'm working with the Bread chef. As best I can tell, "Doughs" are yeasted or laminated doughs that are not bread; croissants, brioche, sweet rolls, and the like. I made three batches of dough early in the week: one plain sweet roll dough, one ditto with cardamom and grated orange peel, and one batch of pain au lait dough. The rest of the week I was making these doughs up into various sweet rolls. The basic technique was the same for all the products. <br />
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First step in bread-type dough making is always to prepare your mise en place: get all the ingredients measured and prepped, and gather any equipment you might need to use. All these doughs called for flour, eggs, liquid (milk or water), instant yeast and butter. I used <a href="http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/saf-gold-instant-yeast-16-oz">instant "gold" yeast</a>, which is a special kind of yeast that is "osmotolerant" - it can handle the high amount of sugar in sweet yeast doughs (although sugar is food for yeast, a large proportion of sugar can actually slow down growth for ordinary types of yeast).<br />
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Second step is to mix the dough. The sweet roll and pain au lait both require an intensive mix. The liquid, eggs, flour and yeast go into the stand mixer, where they get beaten (with a dough hook) for a few minutes at low speed until the dough comes together (all parts are incorporated into the dough), then the dough is beaten at high speed for five to seven minutes, until the dough "windows" (spreading a bit of dough with your fingers creates a thin window that doesn't break). Then the mixer is turned to medium speed, and bits of butter are fed in to be incorporated gradually.<br />
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Then the bulk fermenting stage: let the lovely soft yeasty dough sit out at room temperature for an hour, then let it rest overnight (at least) in the fridge, so the yeast can continue to grow slowly.<br />
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The rest of the week was building and baking product. For all the products, I used the same initial method: take half of a batch of dough (about 5 pounds), form it into a block (about 12 x 12 x 4 inches), and run it through the sheeter until it is 3/8 inches thick, at which point it is a sheet of dough about 5 feet by 2 feet.<br />
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I made several versions of sweet rolls. Cardamom-currant ones, where I'd spread cardamom-infused pastry cream very thinly on the dough, sprinkle currants all over, then roll up from the long side. Sticky rolls (brush the dough with melted butter, sprinkle cinnamon sugar, and roll up) and Cinnamon rolls (brush with butter, spread with brown sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle on chopped walnuts before rolling). For all the rolls, I cut the long roll into several pieces and put them on parchment on a sheet pan, thence into the blast freezer for a half hour or so, to make them easier to slice.<br />
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I also made two pastries that were cut rather than rolled. The beauties below were made from the pain au lait dough, sheeted as usual, then cut into squares. Pistachio pastry cream piped diagonally, add a stick of dark chocolate (a.k.a. batard), fold the opposite points in. The other cut pastry was lemon cups: sheet the dough, cut circles, put them in a muffin pan to make little cups, then add lemon curd.<br />
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All of these pastries had a spell in the proof box before baking, and all got an egg wash (proportions are one whole egg plus one egg yolk) before baking. I did not get everything baked this week - some went into the freezer for the weekend and will get baked next week. The kitchens/chefs at school are very attentive to using up leftovers - very little goes to waste. I made one batch of pastry cream (the cardamom one) but the rest of the cream and lemon curd that I used were actually left over from someone else's projects.<br />
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I didn't burn anything this week except my arm (on the rotating / rack oven). I noticed that the senior students have varying quantities of these little burn scars on their forearms - they are something of a badge of honor (or clumsiness).<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/14129918411" title="painAuLait by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2935/14129918411_efe8e82d9b_o.jpg" width="447" height="447" alt="painAuLait"></a><br />
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Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-663611542217509450.post-85479321313921215302014-05-05T09:48:00.000-07:002014-05-05T09:48:01.079-07:00The Lonely PintSounds like a good name for a pub, doesn't it? So, this morning I got everything prepared for cooking the jam. You can (maybe) see in the photo below that the mixture produced lots of juice overnight. I assembled all the tools I thought I'd need for making and canning the jam: plenty of jars, jar-lifter, candy thermometer, strainer and spoon, skimmer and jar funnel (cooking pot not shown). It looked like about a quart of raw fruit, so I got out two pint jars and four half-pint ones.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/13928363629" title="rhubarbJam4 by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2898/13928363629_216373aca2_o.jpg" width="565" height="425" alt="rhubarbJam4"></a><br />
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First step is to make sure the jars and lids are sterile and hot. Jam doesn't require hot-bath canning, so I put the jars in the oven instead of in boiling water (225F). I put the lids in a small pan of simmering water. The jar rings don't need to be sterilized.<br />
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The process of cooking the jam is pretty simple: strain the juice, bring it to a boil, skim, and boil until the thermometer reads 221F / 105C. (Note to self: get a different candy thermometer - every time I use this one, I remember how hard it is to read.) When the syrup has cooked down enough, add the rhubarb, bring back to a boil, skim and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Ladle the jam into hot jars (this is where the jar funnel comes in handy) and put hot lids on top, then tighten down the rings to seal.<br />
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You notice I said "jars".... but this amount of rhubarb yielded exactly one pint, so I only needed one jar. I should have used two half-pint jars, but by the time I realized this, it was too late. On the other hand, the jam makes up in flavor for what it lacks in size. Wonderfully rhubarby with just a slight bite of lemon. Beautiful deep ruby color, too. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/122509455@N07/13928353757" title="rhubarbJam5 by Lisa The Baker, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5185/13928353757_0c1741009f_o.jpg" width="474" height="569" alt="rhubarbJam5"></a>Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804973661670415238noreply@blogger.com6